DPS Calculator
Calculate damage per second (DPS) by multiplying single-hit damage by attacks per second — the standard metric for comparing weapons, builds, and characters in any action RPG, MMO, or shooter. Use it to choose between two weapons, optimize gear stat allocations, or rank class builds by sustained damage output.
Last updated: May 2026
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About this calculator
The formula is: DPS = damage per hit × attacks per second. The result is the average sustained damage output, ignoring downtime for cooldowns, target-switching, animation locks, and ammo reloads. In most modern action RPGs and MMOs, DPS is the dominant metric for ranking damage builds because it captures both the "how hard" (damage per hit) and "how often" (attack speed) dimensions in a single number. Two weapons with identical DPS — say a 1000-damage / 1.0 attacks-per-second sword vs a 500-damage / 2.0 attacks-per-second dagger — are equivalent on average but feel and play very differently: high-damage / low-frequency weapons reward precise positioning and burst windows; low-damage / high-frequency weapons sustain consistent pressure and benefit more from on-hit effects, lifesteal, and proc chances. Edge cases: zero attack speed or zero damage produces zero DPS; very slow weapons (1 attack per 3 seconds) produce DPS values that don't reflect real combat because targets often die between swings. The simple DPS formula is "white DPS" — base weapon damage only. Effective DPS (eDPS) factors in critical hit chance, crit multiplier, weapon enchantments, percentage damage modifiers, debuffs on targets, and uptime of buffs. A more accurate model: eDPS = base damage × attacks/sec × (1 + crit% × (critMult − 1)) × (1 + damage modifiers) × buff uptime. For real PvE optimization (raid encounters, boss fights), use a class-specific theorycrafting tool or simulator (SimulationCraft for WoW, Path of Building for PoE, Aspecd for Last Epoch) rather than this formula — those handle complex interactions like cooldown management, target mechanics, and probabilistic skill chains.
How to use
Example 1 — Comparing two weapons. Sword A deals 850 damage per hit at 1.4 attacks per second. Enter 850 for Damage and 1.4 for Attack Speed. Result: 1,190 DPS. Verify: 850 × 1.4 = 1,190. ✓ Sword B deals 1,200 damage at 0.9 attacks per second: 1,200 × 0.9 = 1,080 DPS. Sword A wins by ~10% on raw white DPS. But Sword B might still be better if it has higher crit chance, higher crit multiplier, or scales better with strength — for definitive comparison, compute effective DPS including those modifiers. Example 2 — Skill rotation DPS estimate. A class has a 3-skill rotation: skill 1 deals 1,500 damage on a 6-second cooldown; skill 2 deals 2,000 damage on a 10-second cooldown; skill 3 deals 600 damage with no cooldown, used as filler. Over 30 seconds: skill 1 fires 5 times (7,500 dmg), skill 2 fires 3 times (6,000 dmg), skill 3 fills the remaining ~15 seconds at 0.5 cast time = 30 casts (18,000 dmg). Total = 31,500 damage / 30 sec = 1,050 DPS. This calculator doesn't handle rotations directly; use it on individual skills to compare relative contribution to the rotation, then assemble manually or use a theorycrafting simulator for accurate full-rotation DPS.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between DPS, eDPS, and burst DPS?
White DPS (plain DPS) is base weapon damage × attack speed, ignoring all modifiers. Effective DPS (eDPS) includes all consistent damage multipliers: crit chance, crit damage, weapon enchantments, percentage damage modifiers (Strength bonuses, weapon-mastery passives), and buff uptime. Burst DPS is the peak damage over a short window (typically 5–15 seconds) when all cooldowns and buffs are active — much higher than sustained DPS but only achievable periodically. For raid boss fights with long-duration patterns, sustained eDPS matters most. For PvP and short fights against high-mobility targets, burst DPS often decides outcomes. For mob clearing in dungeons, area DPS (damage spread across multiple targets via AoE skills) matters more than single-target DPS. Different game genres and class roles emphasize different DPS measurements; always optimize for the metric that matches your actual use case rather than chasing the highest single-number DPS.
How do I include critical hits in DPS calculations?
Use the expected-value formula: effective damage per hit = base damage × (1 + crit% × (crit multiplier − 1)). At 30% crit chance and 2.0× multiplier, the average damage per hit is base × (1 + 0.3 × 1.0) = base × 1.3 — a 30% increase. Then multiply by attacks per second for effective DPS. The variance around this average can be substantial: 30% crit means 30% of hits are doubles, 70% are baseline — over a short fight you may get unlucky and crit only 1 in 10. For longer fights and statistical averages, the expected-value formula is accurate; for short bursts and PvP scenarios, account for variance by considering the 5th-percentile damage (worst-luck case) when planning to survive an encounter. Crit-stacking has diminishing returns near the 100% cap; once you reach 100% crit chance, every additional point goes to "wasted" stat unless the game has a "supercrit" or "overflow" mechanism.
Why doesn't this match the in-game DPS meter?
In-game DPS meters (Skada, Recount, Details for WoW; combat log analyzers for other games) measure actual damage dealt over an actual combat window — including damage spikes, downtime, target switching, missed casts, and resource constraints (mana, energy, rage). A theoretical calculator like this one assumes you can attack continuously at maximum speed forever, which is rarely true in practice. Specific discrepancies: downtime between target deaths, mechanics that force you to stop attacking (move out of fire, dispel a debuff, interrupt a boss cast), resource regeneration limits, debuff uptime gaps, RNG luck or lack thereof with proc-based abilities. For accurate combat-level DPS, use parsing tools that analyze your actual combat logs against benchmarks. The theoretical DPS from this calculator is useful for relative comparisons between weapons or builds, not for predicting in-fight performance.
What are the most common mistakes people make optimizing DPS?
The biggest is optimizing white DPS while ignoring crit chance, crit damage, and damage modifiers that often matter more than base damage. The second is stacking attack speed past the breakpoint where animation locks or global cooldowns cap effective rate. The third is comparing weapons or builds without normalizing for the encounter type — sustained, burst, AoE, and single-target favor different builds. The fourth is using single-target DPS to rank classes for content with heavy add waves; for trash mobs and dungeon clears, AoE DPS often matters 3–5× more than single-target. The fifth is forgetting target mechanics — a "high DPS" build that can't survive boss damage produces zero DPS when dead. The sixth is over-investing in min-maxing for marginal % gains (the last 5% of optimization often requires expensive consumables and gem upgrades that aren't worth the time). Finally, many players optimize for theoretical DPS without practicing the rotation — a 90%-of-theoretical execution by a skilled player beats a 100%-theoretical build piloted poorly.
When should I not use this calculator?
Skip it for class-balance discussions in MMOs and ARPGs — use class-specific theorycrafting tools (SimulationCraft for WoW, Path of Building for Path of Exile, the official sim tools for FFXIV, Aspecd for Last Epoch) that handle gear, skills, talents, buffs, and cooldown management correctly. It is the wrong tool for shooter weapons where time-to-kill (TTK), recoil control, magazine size, and reload speed matter more than raw DPS — use the game's built-in stats page or community-curated TTK charts. Do not use it for support roles (healers, tanks) where damage isn't the primary contribution metric. It also doesn't work for area-of-effect skills (AoE damage scales with target count, not just per-hit damage) or for sustain builds where lifesteal, regen, and shielding contribute "effective" damage by extending fight survivability. For competitive PvP, the simple DPS number tells you almost nothing about real outcomes; positioning, mobility, defensive cooldowns, and burst windows dominate. Use this calculator for weapon-vs-weapon comparisons and quick gear decisions; everything else needs more sophisticated tools.